chrl42 wrote:It's all matter of personal preference, I personally like 3 year-sitted Wuyi the most. And the older the expensive also depends on sellers' personal ideas..

It really depends. Low quality old Wu Yi stays low quality regardless of age (i bought several such, falling for promo tricks).Top quality old Wu Yi is a dream, and more or less unobtainable as it is very very rare.

Walking in Chinatown the other day with fellow poster TokyoB, I saw a can of Sea Dyke Shui Xian on the street. About $8 for 125g. Normally, I would never touch stuff like this but after reading many posts on Teachat about it, I said, 'what the heck'. When I returned home, I immediately brewed it up. That can will sit there never to be touched again. Maybe I can use the canister for another tea but anyone able to come to my place can have that tea!

One of my best kept secret (now I want to share it with all ) about aged Wuyi is to refresh them before brewing. Last year, I met a guy who was on the way to the rubbish bin to throw away his 20years old SX. The tea smells like and tastes like croackoach. I bought it from him for a song. I spent 30 minutes slowly refreshing it, and at the end of it, a sweet caramelised smell emerged. Then I brewed it. The taste was heavenly. Now I keep the tea for educating my friends on the art of refreshing tea.

In fact, I refresh all Wuyi ( and many other teas) before brewing all the time, to expand the range for brewing. In brewing Wuyi, chaozhou style, everything happen in nanoseconds, so refreshing it will give you more leeway.

chrl42 wrote:It's all matter of personal preference, I personally like 3 year-sitted Wuyi the most. And the older the expensive also depends on sellers' personal ideas..

It really depends. Low quality old Wu Yi stays low quality regardless of age (i bought several such, falling for promo tricks).Top quality old Wu Yi is a dream, and more or less unobtainable as it is very very rare.

I didn't point out the high quality teas, but the ones who can't differentiate the high quaity teas from high prices

chrl42 wrote:It's all matter of personal preference, I personally like 3 year-sitted Wuyi the most. And the older the expensive also depends on sellers' personal ideas..

It really depends. Low quality old Wu Yi stays low quality regardless of age (i bought several such, falling for promo tricks).Top quality old Wu Yi is a dream, and more or less unobtainable as it is very very rare.

Walking in Chinatown the other day with fellow poster TokyoB, I saw a can of Sea Dyke Shui Xian on the street. About $8 for 125g. Normally, I would never touch stuff like this but after reading many posts on Teachat about it, I said, 'what the heck'. When I returned home, I immediately brewed it up. That can will sit there never to be touched again. Maybe I can use the canister for another tea but anyone able to come to my place can have that tea!

Seadyke Rou Gui limited edition is pretty ok..

C'mon, Seadyke yellow tin has been long favorite by many Chaozhou people and SE overseas Chinese.

Let's not make a mistake by bringing down the Er Guo Tou because you like the expensive Maotai

chrl42 wrote:It's all matter of personal preference, I personally like 3 year-sitted Wuyi the most. And the older the expensive also depends on sellers' personal ideas..

It really depends. Low quality old Wu Yi stays low quality regardless of age (i bought several such, falling for promo tricks).Top quality old Wu Yi is a dream, and more or less unobtainable as it is very very rare.

Walking in Chinatown the other day with fellow poster TokyoB, I saw a can of Sea Dyke Shui Xian on the street. About $8 for 125g. Normally, I would never touch stuff like this but after reading many posts on Teachat about it, I said, 'what the heck'. When I returned home, I immediately brewed it up. That can will sit there never to be touched again. Maybe I can use the canister for another tea but anyone able to come to my place can have that tea!

Seadyke Rou Gui limited edition is pretty ok..

C'mon, Seadyke yellow tin has been long favorite by many Chaozhou people and SE overseas Chinese.

Let's not make a mistake by bringing down the Er Guo Tou because you like the expensive Maotai

Teaism wrote:One of my best kept secret (now I want to share it with all ) about aged Wuyi is to refresh them before brewing. Last year, I met a guy who was on the way to the rubbish bin to throw away his 20years old SX. The tea smells like and tastes like croackoach. I bought it from him for a song. I spent 30 minutes slowly refreshing it, and at the end of it, a sweet caramelised smell emerged. Then I brewed it. The taste was heavenly. Now I keep the tea for educating my friends on the art of refreshing tea.

In fact, I refresh all Wuyi ( and many other teas) before brewing all the time, to expand the range for brewing. In brewing Wuyi, chaozhou style, everything happen in nanoseconds, so refreshing it will give you more leeway.

So the secret is out! I am in a generous mood to share.

Try it Teadoff before you throw away the SeaDuke.

If you can resurrect this tea, you are a magician. Bad tea is bad tea. I'm sure it will taste better when refreshed, but the quality of the tea will not change no matter what you do to it.

No harm trying especially old tea as the quality in the past is generally good. If it doesn't work out at least we can learn from it. I have some good success many times in resurrecting old tea. Have a good day my friend. Cheers!

Last time I was trying competition 100-yr LCSX devoted to Chinese Communist Party..

Trying to use my antique Zhuni, my Chinese fella inform me a high end Wuyi should be brewed in a Gaiwan....At that time, I was thinking...maybe he was right, but also feels like something's missing too

Take a look at vintage Yixings...they are not preciesly made as today's master Yixings, the caligraphy on them aren't perfectly carved as today's yet there's some class and vibe that recent days can never revive.

Beyond being precise..,because old people not only drank teas..they drank culture, a comfort and a manner..but great culture these 'pepsi' people created, if not, there had not been such enthusiam unto Wuyi, development of Zhuni or 'Gongfu' itself.

Trying to use my antique Zhuni, my Chinese fella inform me a high end Wuyi should be brewed in a Gaiwan....At that time, I was thinking...maybe he was right, but also feels like something's missing too

Take a look at vintage Yixings...they are not preciesly made as today's master Yixings, the caligraphy on them aren't perfectly carved as today's yet there's some class and vibe that recent days can never revive.

Beyond being precise..,because old people not only drank teas..they drank culture, a comfort and a manner..but great culture these 'pepsi' people created, if not, there had not been such enthusiam unto Wuyi, development of Zhuni or 'Gongfu' itself.

I would think that i would argue with that fella about his suggestion of using a Gaiwan, and i think that you are absolutely right in your choice of teapot for that tea.Not that i haven't drunk great Yancha in a Gaiwan - one of my best tea experiences was drinking on a tea farm in the Wu Yi mountains tea with a tea farmer from his old broken Gaiwan, which really suited the moment.

i also think that you are also right in the point being of drinking culture when drinking tea, and when one has the choice of having a good old Yixing pot, there is no question in the matter

If you are drinking low grade tea, there are also different levels of low grade tea. One might even discover a better tasting low grade tea and think it is a good tea and raise its level so others begin to say the same thing. In reality, it doesn't make a low grade tea better than it is.

When I bought the Sea Dyke, I also bought a 10+ year Shui Xian for just $1.50 more than the Sea Dyke from one of the local sellers. That tea seemed far better than the Sea Dyke and offered complexity and something you could get your teeth into. But, that 10+year old stuff was still low grade tea. The difference between a higher grade SX is apparent to the mouth and brain. Of course, your brain will fool you many times.

Teaism wrote:One of my best kept secret (now I want to share it with all ) about aged Wuyi is to refresh them before brewing. Last year, I met a guy who was on the way to the rubbish bin to throw away his 20years old SX. The tea smells like and tastes like croackoach. I bought it from him for a song. I spent 30 minutes slowly refreshing it, and at the end of it, a sweet caramelised smell emerged. Then I brewed it. The taste was heavenly. Now I keep the tea for educating my friends on the art of refreshing tea.

In fact, I refresh all Wuyi ( and many other teas) before brewing all the time, to expand the range for brewing. In brewing Wuyi, chaozhou style, everything happen in nanoseconds, so refreshing it will give you more leeway.

So the secret is out! I am in a generous mood to share.

Try it Teadoff before you throw away the SeaDuke.

Hi Teaism,I have read about three times your post, but I have not understand what you mean with refreshing tea. How does it work exactly? With what tea can I use this method?

I hope not to bore you too much with all these questions.Thank you,William.

Thanks for your interest. I have a tea refresher from Lin Ceramic. It is like a semi globe shape clay vessel with handle. The tea is place in the vessel and gently heat over small fire. You can buy the burner which use spirit for the heating. Normally there are 2 stages in refreshing. Firstly to refresh until the slight mushy smell is gone and let it rest for a few minutes. The second stage, you should also gently heat it until u smell the sweet aroma. You can brew it after the tea cool down. Alternatively you can use a small skillet over gentle flame but watch out for burn smell esp there is a lot if small leaves. Always shake the tea leaves to prevent any burning.